


Detours

by ca_te



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Humor, M/M, Road Trips, Romance, Sexual Tension, non explicit sexual content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-30
Updated: 2013-07-30
Packaged: 2017-12-21 21:23:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/905093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ca_te/pseuds/ca_te
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin and Arthur go on a road trip and there are many things to figure out along the way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Detours

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a promt I got over at Tumblr: _Future AU where they go on a long road trip where they get up to a load of trouble and shenanigans like the car breaks down miles from anywhere. Something like that? :)_

**Day #1**

Arthur stumbles down the stairs under the weight of his backpack. His father won’t stop talking about being careful and wolves in the woods and a Pendragon who goes camping has not being seen for decades and Arthur just wants to be out of the house, sitting in the car, with Merlin making a mess of the music as always.

“We’ll be careful, dad.”

Uther’s gaze is hard when they both stop in front of the house door.

“You’d better. It’s not like I’m going all the way down to Wales if you need help.”

Arthur straightens his shoulders despite the backpack, trying to convey as much defiance as he can.

“Your help won’t be needed.”

The door closing behind his back is a relief.

*

Merlin barrels out of the house, waving at his mother. His backpack is easily twice his size, Arthur notes. Then Merlin turns and beams at him, all excitement and deep blue eyes, and Arthur smiles back as easy as breathing.

*

“You don’t get it, do you? Sigur Ros are clearly superior.”

Arthur shakes his head and tries to glare at Merlin while keeping his eyes on the road at the same time.

“Remind me why I agreed to go on this trip with you.”

Merlin brings his legs up to rest his feet on the dashboard.

“Because I’m awesome, of course.”

Arthur manages to swat him on the arm before Merlin scoots backwards against the car door.

“Now you do the driver. I’m the designated deejay.”

Arthur groans, but ends up tapping the rhythm of _Glosoli_ on the steering wheel anyway.

**Day #4**

“You just dug your elbow straight into my liver.”

Merlin sighs and tries to turn on his side, but the tent is small and cramped and his stupid legs keep getting tangled with the sleeping bag.

“Say to your liver I am sorry.”

His feet hit some unidentified part of Arthur and the blond groans.

“For god’s sake, stay still, Merlin!”

Merlin thinks about complaining, but he is tired after the day’s trip and he just wants to sleep.

“All right, but tomorrow I get to choose on which side to sleep.”

*

Merlin wakes up to the sound of rain drops playing the tent like a drum. He slowly blinks sleep away only to be startled into awareness by how close to Arthur he is. He must have moved during the night, because his and Arthur’s legs are tangled together and the blond’s face is half buried in Merlin’s unruly hair.

It isn’t the first time it happens. They have grown together after all, and there have been countless sleepovers over the years. Still they are not kids anymore and Merlin has figured out a while back that Arthur might be his best friend, but that doesn’t mean Merlin is blind. There’s no way he can deny how warmer he feels from head to toe when Arthur leans in too close or when they change together. Merlin hastens to clear _that_ thought out, before it can lead to embarrassing incidents, like getting painfully hard while pressed against his best friend.

He doesn’t know how much time passes, rain keeps falling and he just lies still, not to wake Arthur up. The rain has stopped when Arthur stirs, azure eyes blinking open.

“Morning”, a sleepy smile stretches Arthur’s lips and Merlin tries hard not to think about what it would be like to wake up to that smile every single morning of his life. He isn’t some school girl with a crush, he can’t be. So he hastens to shove Arthur away.

“You sure are a limpet.”

Arthur is suddenly wide awake, tickling Merlin into submission.

“I’ll show you who’s the limpet!”

*

“I am hungry.”

Merlin squints at the map, trying to understand where they are. Geography was never his forte.

“Meeeerlin.”

“Arthur, you are always hungry.”

“Are you saying I’m fat?”

Merlin can’t help chuckling at that.

“I never said that.”

The car keeps bumping its way along the road, nothing but trees around them.

“According to the map there’s a town just a couple of hours from here?”

“I don’t like that interrogative tone…”

Merlin folds up the map and leans back against the seat, Devendra Banhart lulling him. “Nah, stay positive. If there is no town we can always sleep in the car.”

Arthur groans and his stomach rumbles. Merlin laughs out loud before reaching for the bag on the back seat.

“Here you go, you big lump. I’ll even feed you while you drive.”

If shivers hop up and down his spine every time Arthur’s teeth graze against his fingers as he hands the blond chip after chip, Merlin tries not to dwell too much on it.

*

Turns out the town is there for real and that hot water still exists, even though Merlin has almost forgotten it.

After an ill-thought race to the shower – which ends up in Merlin almost cracking his head open – they spend the night watching horrible movies on cable and playing at who makes up the most absurd dialogues.

Arthur falls asleep on Merlin’s bed, claiming he is too weak to reach his own. Merlin doesn’t mind in the least.

**Day #5**

“How can you even contain all that food? You are so freaking thin!”

Arthur watches in wonder as Merlin swallows a huge mouthful of mushrooms and fried egg.

“That’s why I need to eat.”

“Well at least I can make you roll to the car.”

Merlin glares at him, but there’s no bite in it. Arthur leans back and sip his coffee. The morning light splashes over their table, caressing Merlin’s pale skin and making his eyes look somehow deeper and bluer. Arthur grips the chipped porcelain mug a bit tighter.

*

“Tell me I am dreaming. Tell me this is a fucking nightmare.”

The car’s hood is boiling-hot under his palms and Arthur scrambles backwards, cursing. Merlin has the decency not to laugh, thank god for small fortunes. Everything had been going smoothly – Merlin belting out _You are the voice_ aside – when the car just started sputtering. Arthur barely managed to pull over to the side of the road before the engine died. And from the look of things it is going to remain dead for the foreseeable future.

It wouldn’t be too much of a problem if they weren’t in the middle of nowhere.

“You are having  a really vivid nightmare, Arthur.”

Arthur blinks and lifts his gaze from the overheated engine to Merlin’s face. How he even manages to look so serious when he is telling idiocies will always be a mystery to Arthur. It doesn’t change the fact that he is laughing and Merlin with him, eyes crinkling at the corner in the most beautiful way.

*

Obviously there is no mobile reception. Obviously the next town, according to Merlin’s rather poor sense of direction, is a day of walk on foot from where his traitorous car has left them.

They carry the tent in turns, Merlin makes sure to keep humming along unknown indie songs and Arthur wonders how even this manages to be soothing.

*

“I tell you I heard howling.”

“For god’s sake, Merlin. There aren’t wolves down here.”

Arthur looks as Merlin pouts, cheekbones sharp in the light casted by the small lamp hung above their heads.

“If you say so…”

Sighing, Arthur reaches forward, his hand sinking in the unruly softness of Merlin’s hair. His breath hitches when Merlin looks up at him through ink-black lashes. Arthur can feel his heartbeat down to the tips of his fingers. Merlin simply pushes up against his hand, like an overgrown cat.

**Day #6**

Merlin leans against the wall of the shop as the mechanic busies himself with the engine, Arthur peering over the man’s shoulder. “You have to give them the impression you know how that stuff works, otherwise they are going to swindle you”, Arthur had said. It sounded like something Uther would say, and yet Merlin knows Arthur will never become a man like his father. It is written in his kind smiles and in the brave curve of his heart – Arthur is going to be a great man one day. Merlin hopes he will always be by his side.

*

For a moment Merlin has to struggle to remember where he is, sleep clogging his mind along with shards of dreams he shouldn’t be away. Reality comes back to him in the form of an arm slung over his waist and a leg thrown over his thigh. The small hotel they could afford had only double bedrooms available and they hadn’t seen any problem in sharing as they had done so many times before. But right now Merlin would sell  a kidney for a single bed, where he could he achingly hard without being covered by the body of his best friend – and kind of the biggest crush Merlin has ever had in his whole life.

As if life wasn’t already difficult enough, Arthur shifts in his sleep, legs inching up on Merlin’s thighs, his face close enough that Merlin can feel Arthur’s warm breath caressing his cheek. He tries to stay still, he really does, but then Arthur is moving again his thigh brushing right against Merlin’s length and there’s no way he can prevent the whimper that tumbles past his lips.

Arthur groans and mumbles something that sounds like “You all right?”. Merlin hastens to tell him to go back to sleep.

*

“You are weird today.”

Merlin focuses on the fields rolling past outside in a valiant effort not to look Arthur in the eyes.

“C’mon, don’t be a brat.”

That has him turning.

“Excuse you? Who are you calling a brat?”

Arthur chuckles, his hand coming to rest on Merlin’s left knee.

“This is the Merlin I know.”

*

Merlin wouldn’t be able to tell how it happened. One moment they were merrily singing off-key in front of their poor attempt at a camp fire, the beer making him feeling all loose-limbed, and the next one Arthur’s tongue was tracing the seam of his lips.

Arthur’s chest is solid under Merlin’s palms, his tongue gentle and insistent at the same time and Merlin shakes with the vastness of the desire inside of him as he pushes up into the kiss, needing to be closer still. The sound Arthur makes shouldn’t be allowed, raw and primal and sending blood careening along Merlin’s veins straight down to his cock.

It isn’t the first time Merlin has kissed a boy and he knows the same is true for Arthur; the blond might have dated girls, but it hasn’t prevented him from experimenting with Leon back in their second year of high school. And Arthur’s hands are sure on his hips as he guides Merlin until he his straddling Arthur’s legs.

When they pull apart, Merlin is sure the bottom of his stomach is going to fall out because of the nerves. He trusts Arthur, he has always had, but this is too big and if something goes wrong, if something breaks between them…Arthur smiles, cheeks flushes and eyes clear. His voice is slightly hoarse when he speaks, “I dreamed of doing this, you know?”

Merlin wonders if hearts are designed to burst open and if the sound they make is the one he is hearing right now. Grinning he leans forward and bites at Arthur’s lower lip.

“You could have done it sooner, you twat.”

Arthur doesn’t reply, he just kisses him harder.

**Day #7**

Arthur is pleased to discover that the weight and the taste of Merlin on his tongue are exactly how he imagined.

**Day #9**

Merlin spreads his arms wide, the wind pulling at his sweater, and looks down at the valley spreading in front of them, all green grass and ancient rocks. Arthur is by his side, eyes trained on the ruins of a castle not far from there. It feels like being in a dream.

Arthur leans closer, one arm coming up around Merlin’s waist, pulling him closer.

“Don’t you dare fly away.”

Merlin grins up at him.

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

**Day #12**

“I don’t want to go back home just yet.”

Arthur looks at  Merlin from the corner of his eyes, wind tugging at his hair and a small pout on those plush lips of his.

“You know you’ll still get to see me once we’re back in London, right?”

Merlin tries to suppress a grin and Arthur’s heart thumps happily at the sight.

“But you won’t be there to wake me up with blowjobs.”

“Who knows, I am good at sneaking through windows, you know that.”

Merlin is smiling openly now, “I love you.”

Arthur slows the car down and turns slightly to look at his best friend, cheeks dusted pink and eyes wide as though he is only now realising what he has just said.

Outside the sky is clear and music pours from the old radio. And Arthur decides to go with his heart for once.

“I love you too.”

Merlin’s hand tightens on Arthur’s knee.

“Stop the car. I need to kiss you now.”

Arthur laughs, light and happier than he has ever been, and hastens to comply.


End file.
